Mining Geomechanics – Stress & Strain
We’re going to introduce in this topic the two key variables required to define the fundamental behaviour of materials. These variables are stress and strain. In many engineering applications it is required to assess how a structure deforms or behaves under a load. Making such an assessment requires some knowledge about the material constituting the […]
Mining Exploration Process
How Explorers develop an exploration strategy, how they develop an exploration model and design an exploration program and select the optimal exploration tools to carry out that program. As usual of the talk will end with a series of learning points from this talk. There are two fundamental truths about the exploration industry; the […]
Cave Mining
In the previous topic, we considered methods of stope mining were the stopes were intended to stay open and collapse and collapse of the roof was not an intended outcome. In some situations however, it may be permissible or even desirable that the roof of the mine collapse to fill the stope as mining proceeds. […]
Witwatersrand Gold Deposits
Here is some history of the Witwatersrand Gold Style Ore Deposits as they related to South Africa since the arrival of the Dutch and the southernmost tip of the continent in 1652. The Dutch set up a small fort where Cape Town stands today and started Market Gardens as a place that the Dutch East […]
Uranium Geology
I’ll start with a general discussion of uranium its uses, production, resources and the main uranium ore minerals. Then I want to focus the bulk of the course on the types of Uranium Ore deposits, discussing as I go along how those deposit types are formed and how we go about exploring for them. Then […]
Rock Blasting
In this topic, we will discuss about blasting. Blasting is an operation that engineers resort to in order to break the rock mass, and to facilitate the removal of the overburden material. Blasting is am operation that has safety, stability, and economical viability issues, and it’s a science itself. First of all, blasting requires explosives. […]
Distribution of Gold and Sulfides
Lupin is located on the shores of Contwoyto Lake at lat. 65° 48’N, Long. 111° 15’W and lies about 80 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle. Since start up in 1982 the mine has produced over 2.15 million ounces of gold from 6.66 million tonnes of ore grading 10.63 gm/tonne. Total remaining reserves at 1993 […]
Mineral Reserves, Mineral Resources and Estimation
The goal of the exploration program is to proof up resources and reserves and to estimate the value of what is being found. In short to answer the question; Can we make money from this pile of rocks or not? Some background to this question of resources and reserves. In 1969 the Vietnam War was […]
Slope Stability Determination Methods
Methods suitable for slopes in soil like materials, where the strength of the material can be determined from testing small specimens of the material in a laboratory. Classical soil mechanics slope stability analysis and material strength testing methods are applicable. Methods suitable for slopes in hard jointed rock where the stability of the slopes is […]
Estimating Weak Rock Strength
Factors Controlling the Strength of Weak Rock Masses: For the purposes of this paper a weak rock mass is defined as any rock mass in which the effective shear strength parameters are less than: effective cohesion, c’ = 25 psi (0.2 Mpa) effective friction angle, ∅’ = 30° using the Mohr Coulomb failure criticism. This would […]